


No Man's Sky, Autism, and Being the Alien: An Essay

by DaxFugue



Category: No Man's Sky (Video Game), Original Work
Genre: Analysis, Essays, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 06:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30118248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaxFugue/pseuds/DaxFugue
Summary: A brief essay on how the game No Man's Sky relates to the experience of being neurodivergent in the real world.(Written by Sierra Wolfblood of Dax System)
Kudos: 5





	No Man's Sky, Autism, and Being the Alien: An Essay

**Author's Note:**

> Minor spoilers for No Man's Sky. No major plot beats or characters will be spoiled.

We've spent much of our lives seeking escapism in video games. That's largely what they're there for. Many games are specifically designed to immerse you within the fiction of the game, through interface, atmosphere, mechanics, art direction, and any number of other elements that come together to construct the larger whole. But despite the immersive, engrossing nature of numerous titles, for many it can be hard to find an experience that feels like their own, that they can relate to. Outside of fiction, these same people often struggle to find a place within the real world, too. They feel alienated by the world around them, only to similarly struggle to find a world for themselves in fiction beyond those they can create for themselves.

No Man's Sky strikes an interesting mid-point between the alienation of the real world to many people, and the engrossing comfort of being immersed in another world. As the game starts, you're waking up in some random planet. Your ship's damaged, the environment is most likely slowly killing you, and you have no memory of how you got there. Fairly standard start-of-video-game fare, a stranded amnesiac left to discover the world alongside the player. But as you set out into the stars, you quickly discover that this isn't your world. You don't _have_ a world. All around you are uncharted planets, undiscovered plants, minerals, and animals. Nothing is familiar. You are left to explore this completely foreign universe, and carve your own path and presence into it. It's far from a welcoming or inviting place, though. Not a single planet you go on is truly "safe" for you. Some might not have immediately apparent hazards like freezing temperatures or dangerous wildlife, but you are still reliant on your life support system to keep you alive. Nowhere in the game is it safe for you to remove your exosuit, further reinforcing that this isn't a place you were ever meant to be. Even in the character customization found later in the game, the default human-looking species is simply referred to as "Anomaly."

You are the alien in this universe. Roaming almost every planet are machines known as Sentinels, that will not only attack, but relentlessly pursue you until evaded, if they catch you harvesting any of a planet's resources. Sure, carving out massive swathes of wildlife for fun probably isn't the best thing to do, but you are hunted all the same if caught taking what you need to survive. The handful of sapient races living across the stars in this universe all seem to know how to communicate with eachother, but not with you. While you are able to learn, practice, and gradually further understand their languages, you will never reach the level of communication required to meaningfully converse with them, only enough to get by in simple interactions. Even if you earn favor with these beings, you will always be an outsider from the greater societies of this galaxy. You're a lost traveler, making a name for yourself as you drift from place to place.

All of this, despite being heavily fictionalized in a colorful sci-fi setting, quite closely mirrors the experiences of many real people. People with autism, ADHD, or other forms of neurodivergence. We exist in a world not meant for us, struggling to break through the seemingly vast language barrier that stands between how we communicate, and how greater neurotypical society expects us to communicate. Upon those of us with higher or nonstandard needs taking what we require, we are treated as though we are selfish. Most existing spaces aren't truly safe for us, even if free of overt bigotry or prejudice. Our understandings of how this world works come at the expense of trial and error, ridicule, and subjugation. Nothing is familiar. We are aliens in a world created by and for those that are not like us.

But, the world as it exists around us doesn't have to be all there is. You don't have to be confined to solitude in a vast world you were never meant to understand. In No Man's Sky, there is a bastion of safety and community. Later in the game, you discover the Space Anomaly, a hub seemingly existing outside normal space, where you, and every other misplaced outsider can reside. All the other players, as well as several scripted characters that never leave the station, create this colorful, diverse bastion that's the closest to home there is. In the real world, there are similar bastions for those of us misplaced by common society, and they are the communities we create together. Without these communities, we're all just lone wanderers, trying to find our way in some unknowable place filled with unknowable things. But together, we can forge our own paths in this world, and make it a better place for other lost travelers.


End file.
